A watch in which the baseplate and the caseband are integrally formed is known from the patent document No. EP-A-0 216 223 (U.S. Pat. No. 4 696 577). In this watch the baseplate caseband is formed of brass which material has the advantage of permitting easy machining thereof, but which is very much subject to oxidation. In order to prevent such oxidation, the baseplate is coated with a layer of nickel or of gold, the total thickness of which generally does not exceed two microns. This is sufficient to protect the brass while modifying to a minimum the tolerances of the baseplate. This thickness is at the same time not sufficient to protect the exposed portions of the caseband which is subject to numerous attacks or stresses such as shocks or abrasion. Also the invention described in the cited document suggests coating the exposed parts, in particular the outer edge of the caseband, with a protective layer thicker than the thickness of the layer covering the baseplate. This leads to a manufacturing problem which is resolved by several successive operations and which consists in coating the baseplate with a thin protective layer, then stacking several baseplate-casebands onto one another and coating the visible parts of such assembly with a thick protective layer. Following disassembly, each baseplate-caseband exhibits an edge resistant to outer solicitations.
The patent document No. EPA-0 082 119 describes a watch case caseband the lateral faces of which are protected by a semi-cylindrical cover strip formed of corundum. The cover strip is glued in a groove of the same form milled in the edge of the caseband. It will be noted however that this arrangement does not have as purpose the protection of a watch case, the baseplate and the caseband of which are formed integrally and are covered with a protective layer of substantially constant thickness as is the case in the present invention. Furthermore, the cover strips of the cited document do not serve as means for fastening a bracelet. It is thus not seen how the teaching of this document combined with that of the precedingly cited document could suggest the presently claimed invention.